John Mayer showed off his Blues chops at the Viper Room in Los Angeles on Monday night, where he took the stage for a "Blues jam" and covered Jimi Hendrix's "Axis Bold As Love" and "The Wind Cries Mary," as well as Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something." Rolling Stone reported that ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons was so impressed that he jumped on stage and yelled, "Give it up for my boy!" This reportedly surprised even Mayer, who said, "I don't know what the hell is going on. Hello Mr. Gibbons."

The five original members of Duran Duran will launch a North American arena tour on February 8 in Puerto Rico. The Astronaut tour will hit 40 venues, wrapping up April 13 in New York. The band recently released Astronaut, their first studio album recorded with the original line up since 1983's Seven and the Ragged Tiger.

In October, Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace and Dr. Eric Hoskins of War Child Canada traveled with George Stroumboulopoulos of Canada's MuchMusic on a mission to the war-torn region of Darfur, Sudan – the very same region that will benefit from the Band Aid 20 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas." All three of them will talk about their experience on Canada’s CBC News this Sunday, December 12 at 9:00 a.m. Also, Maida has contributed to a collaborative project called Daniel Victor's Neverending White Lights that also features members of Switchfoot, Finger Eleven and 311. The album, Neverending White Lights: Act I, is due out next year.

Two unheard John Lennon songs will be used in an upcoming Broadway musical about his life. NME.com reports that Yoko Ono has given permission for "India, India" and "I Don’t Want To Lose You" to be included in the production. The as-yet-untitled musical will debut at New York’s Broadhurst Theatre on July 7, after a world premiere in San Francisco on April 12.

More performers and presenters have been announced for Spike TV's Video Game Awards. The event will air live on Spike on December 14 with Snoop Dogg as the host. Snoop also will perform on the show with Pharrell Williams, as will Sum 41, Ludacris and the reunited Motley Crue, who will do a "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Home Sweet Home" medley. Award presenters include JC Chasez, The Donnas, Fabolous, Tony Hawk, Lil' Jon & The Eastside Boyz, Lil' Wayne, Bam Margera, Giovanni Ribisi and Papa Roach.